Dear All,
I have just had a couple of days off (playing with the motorbikes), and
have to catch up on the mail!.
A week or so ago there was a thraed on the strange cars which people had
owned. Unfortuantely (maybe that should be fortunately) I have not
owned any strange ones, but my father and a few others have.
The Wartburg got a mention, my father had one of these. It was a SAAB
three cylinder two stroke (with a free wheel clutch a la Rover), and
was not a bad car to drive.
Father also had a Skoda (there are still a few running here in Melbourne),
and a Moskvich (I think that is the spelling). This was Russian?, and
seem to have been a copy of the Standard (or was it Vauxhall) motors and
running gear.
Another odd-ball was a NOBEL (a strange little 200cc two stroke engine in
a fibreglass body). They were assembled unedr licence in Northern Ireland.
As far as I can remember the engine was made by SACHS, and it had 4 forward
gears and four reverse. To get into reverse, simply turn off the ignition,
and start up again, and you were in reverse (that does not sound right,
maybe one had to keep the clutch in, or the engine in gear or something).
Someone (may have been Ray Gibbons) asked about why Aussies called
Australia OZ. I am not sure (having only emigrated out here about
18 years ago), but here is my best guess - Aussies are basically laconic
in that they want as much meaning from as few words as possible (perhaps
lazy is a good description?). So Australia gets abbreviated to AUS, and
this is more easily identified as Australia by OZ (AUS could also be
Austria).
My view as a newcomer to this "sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains".
Good luck for now,
Arthur in OZ.
a
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